I arrived shortly after 8 am and the place had a good smattering of customers. Soon after I arrived more people came streaming in demonstrating the Ha Ha Bar’s popularity.

The service was friendly and helpful. I was shown a table on the balcony overlooking Lake Ginninderra. It was a view that allowed me to do a little people watching as locals walked, jogged, ran and cycled by.

I asked for a long black coffee on being seated and when it arrived it looked great. It was rich, dark and strong.

A long black coffee from the Ha Ha Bar in Belconnen

The menu looks pretty standard for restaurant that does breakfast, lunch and tea (plus high tea).

I asked for my standard, i.e., Eggs Benedict with bacon rather than ham. The Ha Ha Bar also adds a bit of spinach which is a nice touch.

The eggs were cooked perfectly with a lovely runny yolk. The Hollandaise had a nice rich creaminess which made the spinach and bacon even more delicious. The bacon was streaky and nicely cooked. I’d happily eat eggs here again.

If you have any comments or questions please send me a comment in the space below.

Since returning from a weekend in Brisbane I have posted so many photos to @instagram. It really is an addiction. This week I went past 2300 photos and 68 000 tweets. Of course most of the images are of food. I had also hoped to make an effort this week to eat better. You know more leafy greens, more fibre and less fat and cholesterol. I don’t think I was very successful. My waist has started to thicken a little and my trousers are feeling a little tighter. I have been walking and exercising, I need to increase that and decrease the food intake.

On Thursday evening Bron and I went to dinner with a couple we’re friends with to The Chairman and Yip in Civic (P and LP are our special friends we often have dinner with at their place). We arrived at 1800 AEDT for the Early Bird Specials (because we’re old people). We chose the Early Bird Banquet. We’ve previously eaten there.

All in all the experience was really good. The Chairman and Yip is well worth visiting for dinner, even the early bird dinner. The service is fast and the wait staff are friendly. It’s definitely worth the $38.50 per person for the flavours.

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We went to Koko Black for dessert. Koko Black is an institution in Canberra and one of the places to go for a chocolate hit after dinner or after a movie at the Dendy cinema.

We now share it so we don’t feel so full all day. Connor wasn’t cooking this morning so it was a little loose and had too much barbecue sauce. That said, the bacon, egg, cheese, mushrooms and hash brown all tasted good.

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For lunch we were meant to do @snagstand but didn’t get to because we were busy. I elected to have a pie with @jacquimkane

So how did it compare. It compared very well. The service was friendly and attentive and timely. The staff appeared interested in the customers. They were also helpful. Two of our party asked about gluten-free options. On asking about a redistribution of crispy egg noodles, this was greeted with enthusiasm so everyone else received extra noodles and as a lovely touch we received a large extra plate of noodles and fried basil. Without asking we had more than enough rice which was a constant problem at Woden. The dish, i.e., #39 tasted better too. More spicy and more flavours. My only concern was the restaurant is quite small and therefore because of its popularity it’s very noisy. With my hearing deficit and tinnitus I had trouble hearing my friends. I had placed myself next to a wall mirror to improve my photography which meant my bad ear was ‘facing’ my friends. I know what you’re thinking Gary puts photography ahead of friends…

We will go back, probably multiple times. I would recommend Lemon Grass in Civic over Woden and independently as a Thai restaurant in Canberra.

Like this:

I’m not making a claim to understand the advantages or disadvantages of fusion cuisine and more because I can than being creative tonight’s dinner is a fusion meal. I crumbed some veal in fresh bread with mixed herbs and GOA beef curry powder and served it with a stir fry of onions, ginger, lup chong, asparagus, broccolini, coriander, spring onions and carrot. This was served with some noodles.

Click on the image for a higher resolution version

Crumbed veal and stir fry

Of course the day started brilliantly with morning tea with Bron. She brought me a pistachio macaron from the Lindt café in Darling Harbour.

On Thursday evening we went to celebrate the birthday of a friend. We went to Sanur’s Balinese Restaurant in Belconnen. We’ve been there a few times before and I’ve blogged about the experience. Bron and I shared an entrée (Sanur’s Deluxe Platter for Two $18.9 A platter of mixed spring roll, chicken or beef satay, sweet corn patties and battered prawns) and I asked for fried chicken (“Chicken” Char Grilled or Fried ½ Chicken $18.9 Sanur Style Chicken marinated in house special ingredients and served with sambal bajak). I was a little disappointed it was dry and not that flavoursome. Bron had the Crispy Ayam ($18.9 Battered marinated chicken thigh tossed with garlic and aromatic salt) which was delicious. The chicken was moist, tender and tasty. For dessert we both enjoyed the Coconut Delusion ($8.90 Coconut pancake filled with unti (shredded coconut) with pandan anglaise, ice cream & toasted almonds).

Entrée platter

Entrée platter

Fried chicken

Bron’s chicken

Coconut dessert

The evening was punctuated with hilarious stories of menstrual period iPhone apps and videos of a bloke called Merv who is good at sucking. The flow of the conversation had periods of tension and hilarity. There was lots of talk about the ladies cycling together. I didn’t know they all had bicycles. 🙂

For lunch on Friday I felt like some hot chips from Urban Bean in my work building. These chips are delicious. A small container costs $4 which sounds expensive (and it is) but the container is quite large. It also comes with some aioli.

Great hot chips

On Friday night Bron made a light dinner. We had a baked egg in a creamy Italian style risotto. It was delicious. This is a split photograph edited before and after the egg was cracked.

Baked egg and risotto

For breakfast on Saturday we had poached eggs and ham. I wanted a little cranberry sauce too.

Poached egg with ham and cranberry

After doing some washing and house work we went out to Ricardo’s café in Jamison for afternoon tea. Bron had a golden mousse and I ate a swan.

Golden mousse

Swan

For dinner on Saturday we celebrated another friend’s birthday and went to Chairman and Yip after drinks at Benchmark wine bar. I was a little disappointed by the Benchmark wine bar. The drinks were really expensive and I got the feeling they were trying to get us out yet the restaurant was only about a third full. There was a huge hens party going on and we had wait staff asking us if we wanted more drinks every five minutes. My greatest disappointment as someone who cannot drink alcohol though is the absence of pineapple juice. That’s what I wanted. In the end I settled for a lemon lime and bitters. To be fair it was our waiter’s first shift. A friend asked for a Chardonnay and he received Chandon sparkling wine. Our waiter was very apologetic and smiled a lot.

At Chairman and Yip it was very different. The wait staff were efficient yet unobtrusive and allowed us to enjoy our meal. This was one of the nicest meals I’ve eaten in Canberra. For en entrée I asked for duck pancakes and ended up sharing with Bron who had pan fried Kurobuta Rich River (Victoria) pork cake with red wine vinaigrette. Both entrées come for $16.50. Both were delicious although the pork cakes were more filling.

Duck pancakes

char-grilled fillet of beef with shallot and spring onion sauce

For a main course I asked for a char-grilled fillet of beef with shallot and spring onion sauce. Bron asked for beef and scallop ground pepper hot pot, M asked for chairman’s red curry chicken and L asked for pumpkin and cucumber with caramelised chili and kaffir lime.

pumpkin and cucumber with caramelised chili and kaffir lime

My first plate, in the end we shared everything amongst each other.

For dessert I asked for a panna cotta with a passionfruit sauce. Bron asked for Pyramid of chocolate mousse over white chocolate mousse that sounded like chocolate fellatio which created uproar at our table. 🙂

Panna cotta with passionfruit sauce

This morning we had breakfast at Ellacure in Bruce. We’ve been meaning to do this for a long time. It didn’t disappoint. I asked for poached eggs on toast with a side of hollandaise and avocado while Bron asked for Eggs Benedict with bacon (this is Bron’s instagram image). Breakfast at Ellacure is very worthwhile. The service is very good and the food is delicious. The service verged on trying to get us out, but really, it was 0900 in the morning and they would be very busy after 0930. They were very efficient. I would rank this a great place in Canberra for breakfast or brunch.

Look I got pineapple juice 🙂

The best thing was I got pineapple juice 🙂

Poached eggs, hollandaise and avocado. This is one of the best photographs I’ve taken.

After being away last week in Ottawa it was good to see and catch up with Bron. On Thursday night we had a night out at Chong Co Thai Bar and Restaurant and then to Max Brenner for some chocolate. Yesterday was Bron’s birthday and a few of us went to dinner and then had dessert at a friend’s place.

On Thursday night we didn’t really need to scan the menu. We knew what we wanted and shared some Thai fish cakes for an entrée. These were nice and full of flavour but a little rubbery. For a main course Bron chose the barbecue chicken (marinated skin on chicken with served with sweet chilli sauce) and I chose the barbecue lamb which Bron had the last time we were here.

Chong Co Thai fish cakes (iPhone)

Chong Co Barbecue chicken (iPhone) Served with sweet chilli sauce

Chong Co Barbecue lamb cutlets (iPhone)

The chicken and lamb were delicious. I would highly recommend these two dishes for a main course meal.

After the main course we walked to Max Brenner for a little chocolate.

I had a white chocolat and an exploding chocolate shot. The hot chocolate drinks are served in hug mugs which look like toilet bowls.

On Friday evening I didn’t get to Bron’s until late (don’t ask, it was a long day at work). Bron prepared a lovely Chicken thigh roasted with lemon, garlic and shallots served with lemon risotto and broccoli. This was accompanied later with a Flourless toffee date hazelnut chocolate muffin with cream. The meal was delicious.

Chicken thigh roasted with lemon, garlic and shallots served with lemon risotto and broccoli (iPhone).

Flourless toffee date hazelnut chocolate muffin with cream (iPhone)

Saturday was Bron’s birthday. We went to the EPIC markets at Exhibition Park early in the morning. Bron bought a heap of produce including some truffles and cultured butter. I bought a vanilla slice.

This was very filling (iPhone) You can see Bron’s Eggs Benedict in the background.

On Saturday night we went to dinner with some friends to Sanur’s Balinese Restaurant in Belconnen. We’d been there before but that was years ago. The menu is full of delicious choices and I’m reminded of a review from T1 of In The Taratory fame. Bron and I shared a couple of entrées, viz., the Bakwan Jagung ($9.9 buys you Sweetcorn patties with prawns and shallots served with sweet chili dipping (3 pieces)) and the Udang Goreng Tepung ($10.9 buys you King prawns in spiced, crispy coconut batter served with cucumber relish (4 pieces)). For a main I had a whole deep fried fish (a little fish) Ikan Balado ($28.90 buys you deep fried of whole fish or prawns or calamari served with padangnese style mild chili sauce). I like fish like this and was happy to head the eyes.

After dinner we went to Tanya’s place for dessert. Meredith had given Bron a Dutch pancake maker for her birthday and we needed to try it out. In addition Tanya had been busy making a cake or awesome proportions.

Dutch pancakes with maple syrup and ice cream. (iPhone)

The balls are cake encased in white chocolate. The balls are decorated with icing and the green grass is also green dyed chocolate. This was amazing and tasted so good (iPhone).

I was so relaxed after dessert I fell asleep and put a show with my snoring 🙂

This morning Bron prepared scrambled eggs with the cultured buttered infused with the truffles she bought at the markets.